If you ever visit an English village, make sure to look out for morris dancing. Undoubtedly one of the strangest traditions of English culture, morris dancing is a form of folk dancing that dates back to the 15th century. If you ever get the opportunity, you really have to see it.

    Men and women wearing old-fashioned, shabby clothing dance in the streets of towns and villages across the country during the holiday periods. Women wear long, frilly (有褶皱边的) skirts and men wear short trousers with bells attached to them. They dance to traditional folk music which is often played on traditional musical instruments.

    Some groups carry heavy black sticks which they beat against each other while they dance. Other groups wave handkerchiefs in the air while they perform. The dances are usually performed near a pub so that when it's over, the dancers and audience can sing some traditional folk songs over a pint of beer. The celebrations will often continue long into the night, by which point most people are too drunk to think about performing again.

    Morris dancing is a great English tradition but it's facing a big crisis. As the years go by, fewer and fewer young people are joining morris dancing groups. The dancers are getting older and older and eventually. If you've ever had the fortune to see morris dancing, you may understand why teenagers aren't rushing to sign up. Putting it to the point, it's not exactly the coolest thing for an 18-year-old to be doing. Why dress up in bells and funny costumes when you could be going clubbing? Or playing sport? Or doing anything else?

However, it would be a great shame to lose such a fun and lively part of England's history and culture. It's important to look after some traditions and customs especially when it's something as harmless and happy as morris dancing. So here's a toast to the next generation of would-be morris dancers! Let's hope they don't leave it too late.

    Located in Los Angeles, University of Southern California is in the heart of a leading city. Although LA ranks highly in The Economist s Safe Cities Index, navigating and city calls for certain safety precautions (预防措施) along with practicing common sense.

    Mobile Safety App Powered by LiveSafe

    The Mobile Safety App powered by LiveSafe, manage by the USC Department of Public Safety and the USC Department of Emergency Planning, is a free downloadable app that that mobile users can use to initiate contact with emergency responders around the campus. Features include: immediate “push button” calls to DPS, easy reporting for suspicious activity or crimes in progress, and location services to notify friends of your route through campus.

    Blue Light Phone Locations

    The University Park has multiple blue light phones that are strategically placed throughout campus. Take note of where the closest ones are on your route. They come in handy in case you lose your phone or in an emergency. These phones are directly connected to USC's Department of Public Safety's 24-hour communications center. Besides emergency needs, it can also be used to report suspicious activity, request for an escort (护送) if you feel unsafe and to report a crime.

    Trojans Alert

    Trojans Alert is an emergency notification system that allows university officials to contact you during an emergency by sending messages via text message or email. When an emergency occurs, authorized USC senders will instantly notify you with real-time updates, instructions on where to go, what to do (or what not to do), whom to contact and other important information. All members of the USC community, as well as parents and regular visitors to campus, are strongly encouraged to sign up for Trojans Alert.

    A mechanical bicycle lock, like a U-lock, should be attached to a solid and immobile object like a rack (架子) to ensure safety. However, these racks are quite rare and popular, thus often occupied and although a bicycle lock prevents the bike from being carried away, as it fixes single parts like the frame or the wheels, other parts can be dismounted. Therefore an electronic system, consisting of several sensors, can extend the range of protection with only few components and less effort.

    The ‘FID Bikealarm' is a motion sensitive electronic alarm system that is attached to the rails of a bike saddle (座椅). Featuring omnidirectional (全方位) movement sensing to detect tiny movements or speeding-up and a small whistle emitting >120dB alarm sound to scare off potential thieves by arousing attention.

    The internal microcontroller uses a complex computer program to distinguish between a serious theft and harmless shaking movement as it senses and adapts to the environment. The usage is quite simple: identify yourself by holding the RFID tag close to the case to lock or unlock the alarm system signaled by feedback sounds. The RFID-technology is predestined for achieving this simple and secure interaction because it doesn't require any complex system, interaction or other devices—just a small tag.

    The ‘RFID Bikcalarm' is meant to be a useful add-on to mechanical bicycle locks as it massively extends the range of protection with few components. It is low-cost, durable and easy to use. The internal battery can be charged by USB.

    Washing habits have changed over the years. In the 16th century, most people had a bath once a month…if they were lucky. Up until the 1950s, it was once a week. Only just recently has the concept of daily showering become popular. But now, according to the New York Times, things are changing again.

    The latest trend is known as "soap-dodging". It basically consists of washing less, having fewer showers and using less soap. "I just wash my hair once a month now," said Brett Dawson, a 32-year-old management consultant. "I have just one bath a week," said Miriam Bayliss, a 28-year-old accountant.

    And it appears to be growing in popularity. A poll last year for tissue manufacturer SCA found that 41% of British men and 33% of women don't shower every day. And 12% of people have a proper wash just once or twice a week. Further research by Mintel found that more than half of British teenagers don't wash every day-with many opting for a quick spray of deodorant (除臭剂) to mask any smell. But why?

    There are a variety of reasons. Some claim that daily hair-washing is unnecessary. Commentator Matthew admitted that he hadn't shampooed his hair for a decade. Others say they just don't have the time. In 2008, the chemist Boots reported a 45% rise in sales of dry shampoo - a product that can be sprayed on hair between showers.

    And some people want to help the environment. "I limit my showers to about twice a week," said Nigel Hamerstone, a 42-year-old architect. "The rest of the time I have a sink wash." he adds. "I believe that I'm as clean as everyone else, and it's helped get my water consumption down to around 20 litres a day - well below the 100 to 150 average in the UK."

    So, will you be joining the new "washing revolution"?

    Do you know that junk food isn't healthy? Of course you do! Do you eat it anyway? Of course you do! But a new study shows teaching adolescents about the ways food companies fool them into thinking junk food is cool can encourage kids to fight back—by eating healthier.

    The pull of junk food can be super-strong. It's designed to tasty; which makes eating well one of the great health challenges of our time. Everyone from doctors to the government has been trying to handle it. Yet we keep eating junk food.

    Professor Christopher Bryan says, "Food companies want you to want junk food." They spend millions of dollars coming up with new ways to^ promote junk food consumption. They hire scientists to make new junk food almost irresistible. They might do this, for example, by adding more sugar. Rats fed junk food for six weeks will even walk across a floor that gives them electric shocks just to get more of such food.

    Food ads often make unhealthy junk food seem healthy by featuring professional athletes, fit-looking pop stars and smiling, active teens. "We thought when the students learned this, it would matter to them," Bryan says. He worked with 8th graders at a Texas school. Half of them got a lesson Bryan created. It focused on the ways junk food is advertised, or marketed. A second group received lessons that focused on health. These lessons informed students junk food is had, and that foods like apples or carrots are a better choice. The students learned a bad diet can lead to major weight gain, and that being overweight puts people at risk for serious diseases. They also learned how eating well now can keep you healthy when you're older.

    After the lessons, the kids in both groups were asked how they felt about junk food. Most didn't have positive feelings about these unhealthy foods.

Elizabeth Bishop is considered one of the best American poets of the 20th century. She was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1911. Her dad died when she was just a baby and her mom never recovered from the loss; she went to live with her grandparents in Nova Scotia, Canada when she was five. Eventually Bishop attended Vassar College, where she began to write poetry.

At Vassar she discovered Marianne Moore's poetry and met "Ms. Moore" and began their life-long friendship. She later met poet Robert Lowell. She wrote tons and tons of letters to both of them, which is good for us because we would otherwise know very little of her personal life. Bishop's poetry is sometimes considered objective and cold because it shows almost nothing about the poet or her life.

Bishop published her first book of poetry in 1946 and wrote until her death in 1979. She would spend years working on a single poem. Her poems are not the result of hasty scribbling (匆忙乱写) on paper while eating breakfast. Over a lifetime of writing, she only published about 275 pages of poetry, and about 40 of those are translations. She would look through drafts of poems again and again and improve them until they were as close to perfect as she could get them.

Reading Elizabeth Bishop is like being transported to the very place, the very moment she's writing about. She leads us to a microscope so we can see every smallest part of the scene. It seems she's always asking us to notice more, and more until the poem is so clear in our minds that it's almost painful — like a light that's too bright. It might take your eyes a while to get used to it, but once they do, you'll like what you see.